Housing Ombudsman Service: Complainants Area - Home. Dealing with disputes and complaints against landlords and housing agents, and other housing disputes

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Complainants Area: Home & Introduction

If you have a complaint against your landlord, or letting or management agent, you must first check if it is a member of the Service.

You can search the members database. For a brief overview of the Service, please see the About HOS section.

All registered social landlords in England are members by law. Some private landlords and agents are also members on a voluntary basis, as are some park homes.

If you wish to make a complaint, please read the information below. After following these notes you can use the online form, or download a printable version from our Complainant Downloads page.

Are you covered?

Not all tenants are covered by the Service.
Notes:
	The Housing Act 1996 requires all social landlords to belong to the Service. It does NOT include local councils: council tenants must complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.
	It includes all landlords registered with the Housing Corporation and any landlord who has taken over local authority homes, such as a 'local housing company'.
	The Service includes landlords which have joined voluntarily. Many unregistered subsidiaries of registered social landlords have joined, as have other landlords.

If you wish to make a complaint:

If you wish to make a complaint and think the Service can help you, there are certain conditions you must meet first:
	You must first make your complaint through the internal procedure of the landlord, agent or park home, within the time limits they stipulate, and not later than twelve months from the moment you become aware of the problem.
	That internal procedure must be completed before submitting the complaint to the Ombudsman. The Service cannot deal with it unless the landlord or agent is given a full opportunity to resolve the problem directly. If you are having difficulties using the internal procedure please let us know.
	You have to submit the complaint to the Ombudsman as soon as possible after completing the internal procedure, and not later than twelve months afterwards.
	Your complaint must be about something which the landlord or agent has not yet resolved. The Ombudsman primarily deals with maladministration – that is, with wrongdoing which affected you and which has not already been addressed locally. The Ombudsman cannot punish landlords or agents, nor can he ask them to do things if they have done nothing contrary to required standards, or if they have already remedied any mistake for which they were responsible.
	The Ombudsman encourages a conciliatory approach to resolving housing disputes. He will only investigate complaints when there is early evidence of serious maladministration. Otherwise, he may recommend instead the use of mediation or other alternative forms of dispute-resolution, which he makes available at no extra cost.